Jesus says goodbye to his mom

- my copy of the Spiritual Exercises

It's week 19 in Creighton University's online Spiritual Exercises retreat in everyday life, which deals with Jesus leaving Nazareth to get baptized. Though the NT doesn't discuss Jesus actually leaving his mother and his home to set out on his public life, Ignatius of Loyola mentions it ... After He took leave of His blessed Mother, Christ our Lord went from Nazareth to the River Jordan where St. John the Baptist was.

One thing I liked about the movie Jesus was that it showed a close relationship between Jesus and his mother. In the film, after Joseph dies, Jesus just doesn't know what to do with himself and his mother is the one who encourages him to leave home. He doesn't want to at first, and when he and his mother say goodbye, it's touching and kind of sad. To see this part in the video below, start watching at about 6 minutes, 57 seconds in: Joseph has died and Jesus is in the family's workshop, grieving ....